The South Philadelphia Rams will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Roxborough Wolves at 1:00 p.m. on February 9th. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
South Philadelphia had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Kensington on Wednesday and snuck past 24-22. Given South Philadelphia's advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 267th, while Kensington is ranked 535th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Halimah Blackwell was the offensive standout of the contest as she scored 13 points. India Brooks was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Meanwhile, Roxborough came tearing into last Wednesday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 14.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against Philadelphia Electric Charter as Roxborough made off with a 51-28 win.
Roxborough's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Inaya Staten led the charge by scoring ten points along with three steals. Staten has been hot recently, having posted three or more steals the last three times she's played. Another player making a difference was Jaylah Holmes, who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds.
South Philadelphia pushed their record up to 9-2 with that victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. As for Roxborough, their win bumped their record up to 13-3.
Things could have been worse for South Philadelphia, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 37-21 loss to Roxborough in their previous meeting back in January of 2023. Can South Philadelphia avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
